Using IPMI tool to obtain SuperMicro MoBo Serial #?

[IamSpartacus]

I'm trying to get the Serial # off one of my SuperMicro motherboards without having to physically open the case. All the information under FRU information in the IPMI webgui is blank. Is there a command I can run with ipmitool to see if it can't display the boards serial #?

 

[EffrafaxOfWug]

`ipmitool fru` should do it but I suspect SM haven't written the info as mine is blank in the web GUI and IPMI as well (and the date is completely out of goose):

effrafax@wug:~$ ipmitool fru
FRU Device Description : Builtin FRU Device (ID 0)
 Board Mfg Date        : Mon Jan  1 00:00:00 1996
 Board Mfg             : Supermicro
 Board Serial          :           
 Product Serial        :

Edit: looks like it's visible in the BIOS however, I can see mine in dmidecode (replaced with X's obv.):

...
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 15 bytes
Base Board Information
        Manufacturer: Supermicro
        Product Name: A2SDi-8C+-HLN4F
        Version: 1.00
        Serial Number: XXXXXXXXXXXX
        Asset Tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
        Features:
                Board is a hosting board
                Board is replaceable
        Location In Chassis: To be filled by O.E.M.
        Chassis Handle: 0x0003
        Type: Motherboard
        Contained Object Handles: 0
...

From reading around though there's a few people who say they don't see the serial in dmidecode.

 

[cesmith9999]

is there an OS installed on the server?

https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...motherboard-serial-missing.22464/#post-209487

Chris

 

[IamSpartacus]

I have pfSense installed on it. Was hoping to not have to reboot or take the system down.

 

[EffrafaxOfWug]

IIRC it's a simple matter to install standard FreeBSD packages via pkg; need to check it myself but I think you can install it by running:

pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/freebsd:10:x86:64/latest/All/dmidecode-3.2.txz

(Assuming it's got direct interweb access of course, else you can just download the package and install from local disc)

Official doc here:
Packages — Installing FreeBSD Packages | pfSense Documentation

 

[IamSpartacus]

IIRC it's a simple matter to install standard FreeBSD packages via pkg; need to check it myself but I think you can install it by running:

pkg add http://pkg.freebsd.org/freebsd:10:x86:64/latest/All/dmidecode-3.2.txz

(Assuming it's got direct interweb access of course, else you can just download the package and install from local disc)

Official doc here:
Packages — Installing FreeBSD Packages | pfSense Documentation

Thanks for this. But as you suspected, I wasn't able to get the info from dmidecode either. It just shows the serial number as 123456789. So I'll have to pop open the case. Not so easy with an Akasa fanless case .

 

[EffrafaxOfWug]

No worries - sorry to hear you'll have to get the crowbar out (nice choice of case for pfsense BTW, assume this is one of the 1U mITX jobs?). Seems like a crapshoot whether SM writes the serial into the BIOS and/or IPMI properly...

 

[IamSpartacus]

No worries - sorry to hear you'll have to get the crowbar out (nice choice of case for pfsense BTW, assume this is one of the 1U mITX jobs?). Seems like a crapshoot whether SM writes the serial into the BIOS and/or IPMI properly...

This is the case, I have two of them. I love them as they are dead silent and cool VERY effectively.

 

[PigLover]

I do not believe SM actually writes the Serial Numbers to their motherboards. In my "real" job we have the integrator who racks/stacks for us verify and update serial number info is stored electronically and purchased from SM get a 100% defect rate and need to be updated.

 

[ax206geek]

You can try Supermicro's IPMICFG. ftp://ftp.supermicro.com/utility/IPMICFG/Supermicro_Utility_User_Guide_IPMICFG.pdf

Section 3.6 has 2 commands -fru 1s and -fru 2s. But they only have DOS, Windows and Linux versions and not BSD.